Planners unanimously support junk vehicle amendment

The Mathews County Planning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend that the board of supervisors approve an amendment to the county’s junk vehicle ordinance.

The amendment would give the planning and zoning director administrative authority to have inoperable/junk vehicles removed from private property after an owner has been notified that he/she is not in compliance with the ordinance and has been given time to correct the problem.

Remedies for the vehicle owner would include having a vehicle repaired and made operable, placing it in an enclosed structure, or screening it with fencing, a hedge, or a dense evergreen landscape at least six feet high.

Property owners would no longer be able to address the problem by placing a cover over the vehicle.

Planning and zoning director John Shaw pointed out that enforcement of the ordinance would be complaint-driven, and that he wouldn’t take action without direction from the board of supervisors.